Living. Learning. Sharing

Social Media

It was just a little over a year ago that I learned that people actually make money from Instagram. And by people, I mean regular old people like me. At the time, I thought only Kardashian’s did that. I’d like to say I took this newfound information and ran with it but I didn’t. Perhaps it was because I had a newborn and, well, I was tired. But this option was definitely in the back of my mind. I already knew I wanted to monetize my blog, it just made sense to monetize Instagram, too.

More than 6 months later, I decided that I was going to go for it and see if I could generate income from Instagram. Of course, I consulted Google! I read an article that said brands wouldn’t start paying you until you had 5,000 followers, so that became my goal. I decided that by the end of 2016, I would get 5,000 Instagram followers. (By the way, my first paid post was when I had a little over 2,000 followers.)

I hit 1,000 followers within the first three weeks but I did not consistently pursue my goal after that for a good three months or so. In mid May (at about 2,500 followers) I decided I needed to get serious about growing my account and since I was already halfway to my goal with little effort, I decided to raise my goal to 10k by the end of 2016.

I reached that goal last week with 4 months to spare!

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more information.)

Before I get in to how I grew my account to 10k without taking any paid courses, I want to say this… I am not an expert. All I know to tell you is what has worked for me. You might disagree with me but the bottom line is it worked. And I was able to do it without paying someone to tell me what to do. Not that I have anything against courses. I really don’t. In fact, I’m currently in a really awesome Pinterest course and I have my eye on this Instagram course, hoping to take it soon. However, at the time I started this journey taking a paid course was not in my budget. The closer I got to the goal the more I wanted to hit it without buying a course – I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

If taking a course is not in your budget either, I want you to know that you can do it!

Here’s how I did it:

I took the advantage of FREE information.If you are actively working on building your business, whether it’s a blog or otherwise, you likely know that there are a ton of courses out there. And they ain’t cheap! However, there are also free courses designed to give you enough value that you will pay for the next course. If I saw a free course on Instagram, I took it. If I saw a “secret report”, I signed up for it. If I saw the word “Instagram” thrown around in a Facebook group, I paid attention! Though paying someone to tell you what to do is much easier, you can gather the information for free. After all, what do you think the person that made the course you’re buying did?

I engaged with my target audience. If you want people to follow you then you’re going to have to let them know you’re there! I did this by searching relevant hashtags to my target audience and engaging with people that used them. Engaging can mean liking, commenting and, yes, following. So, how do you find your target audience? Look for accounts similar to yours (chances are you’re already following several) and there you will find a whole pool of people. Search relevant hashtags or keywords to your target audience. Also, check out large accounts that you admire and aspire to be like – who are their followers? In order to see growth from this, though, you have to commit to doing this every single day whether it’s manually or through an automated service like Mass Planner or Instagress.

I joined comment groups.Getting engagement on posts is vital, for a couple of reasons. If you are wanting to do sponsored posts, then it’s important to have good engagement – as brands look for this. Also, getting immediate comments is extremely important when it comes to getting in the top posts for hashtags. Which, somewhere around 3k, this became my biggest mission. When you get in the top posts, you increase your exposure and more exposure means more followers. The quicker you get engagement, specifically comments, the more likely you are to get on the top posts. Participating in comment groups is huge for this. If you are not familiar with them basically, a DM is created with a group of Instagrammers that are agreeing to comment (many give likes as well) on each other’s posts. Members send their pictures (some groups drop hearts or emojis but I prefer the pictures) to the group and everyone goes to their post and comments. This was very instrumental in helping me to get to top posts which, in turn, helped me gain followers. Here are some Facebook groups that offer comment groups: Instagram Marketing Mastermind, Blogs & Business: Moms who do it All , Mom Blog Tribe and Instagram Comment Pods.

I stepped up my hashtag game.I used to hate hashtags but when I decided that I was going to get serious about growing my account, I knew that upping my hashtag game was non-negotiable. My first step was to get myself up to the 30 hashtag limit. For someone that hated hashtags that was truly agonizing but I did it! My next step was to make sure my hashtags were targeting the right people, with niche specific hashtags (#toddlermom). I also brought down the size of my hashtags to between 5k and 500k. For several weeks I used hashtags within this range almost entirely, there were occasional exceptions but those were extremely rare. The reason I stuck with smaller hashtags was because I wanted to make top posts for the visibility. I knew that at my size, I wouldn’t be making it to top posts with #momlife and I would basically be completely lost in the shuffle within minutes of posting. Over the past weeks, I have started adding in larger tags (and even some broader tags) but still the bulk of my tags are in the 5k to 500k range.

There really is much more information than this but this is the nuts and bolts of how I hit 10k without paying for any courses. If you are serious about taking your Instagram account to the next level on a limited budget check out my Instagram products.

In today’s culture, social media is just a part of what we do. It used to be that when we we met someone new we’d ask for a phone number, now it’s “Hey, are you on Facebook? or “What’s your IG handle?” (Or if you’re really cool… your Snap Chat code.) Personally, social media has been good to me. I’ve reconnected with old friends (and by that I mean actually have reconnected in the real world), I’ve made new friends and, most recently, I’ve been able to earn some profit through my Instagram and Twitter accounts.

But, with all the good that social media can bring, it is certainly not all good. In fact, if we aren’t careful, social media can be harmful and even dangerous. This is why I am really looking forward to sharing this Real Moms Talk guest post with you today. Kate Shelby from Australian Mum shares some wonderful insight on the subject of social media addiction. I hope you find the information as helpful and interesting as I did!

Are you addicted to social media? Social media addiction might seem harmless but it has the potential to take over your life. Social media addiction can affect our daily life, how we behave towards other people and our pathological thought process.

The social media environment has us thinking our friends need to see every aspect of our life . I’m guilty of it too. Ask yourself the question. Are you addicted to social media? Were all affected in different ways.

The Desensitized

These are people who spend so much time on social media they live in a fantasy world where they don’t care if they hurt people’s feelings. They troll posts with constant opinions and abrasive comments. Because when you’re behind a keyboard for so long you become emotionally detached and void of real feelings.

The Oversensitive.

These are people who spend so much time on social media they produce a complex that has them feeling like every piece of content is someway aimed at them. Like they are a part of every social media topic. They will find a way for almost anything to upset them and are easily offended over just about any topic available.

The Lurker

These are people who sit on social media for hours at a time scrolling but don’t say anything. You may have noticed them in your feed. Constantly liking pictures but they never say much. But they are always on social media. You can pretty much bet anytime of day you can post a photo and they will like it. If you approach and talk to them you might get a conversation. But overall they are stuck in routine of spending all of their spare time in an eternity of scrolling.

Are You Addicted To Social Media?

The Signs Of Social Media Addiction

You can’t go a few minutes without checking your social media

You avoid going anywhere because you might miss something on social media

You feel like you have to engage in almost every thing on social media or people won’t know you’re on social media

When you talk with your friends – it’s mostly about social media

There’s more happening in your social media life than your real life

You get social media hangovers. Your depressed about social media but you can’t get off social media

You’re secretly getting on social media when you should be doing something else

You become unwanted or feel ignored when nobody interacts with you on social media

Social media has become a basic human need like Food, Water & Sleep.

You wake up in the middle of the night and the first thing you do is check your phone

You troll other people’s posts for entertainment or find things to be pissed off about on social media

You assume things about a person’s whole life based on a few pictures or opinions

My Own Personal Story With Social Media Addiction

The reason I’m writing this is not to judge but I’m not going to be soft on the topic either. I have been there. In 2007 I sat next to my son’s hospital bed for 9 months. My son had cancer and my son’s father had a mental breakdown so bad he wouldn’t even come and visit. My family was living two states away and the only way to stay connected to the world outside of the 8th floor of a hospital was social media – this is what I told myself.

When my baby became well enough to leave the hospital life behind it was evident I had become addicted to social media. I became so reliant on social media for my friendships It took at least two years to make new friendships outside of Myspace (2007 People….it was the big thing then).

Then came a time a few years ago a huge wake up call slapped me in the face. Watching someone do the same thing to me. The collapse of my relationship had many factors, however, social media played a huge part. The relationships made on social media can be tempting and those that are trying to escape daily life may make mistakes. People get hurt.

Social media can also be very toxic. I’ve seen relationships collapse because of things being taken out of context. I’ve seen full-blown Mummy Wars over things that don’t even require further comment. The media have a huge advantage on social media and can often have people fighting because of one deliberate controversial post. It’s almost like a funny game to get mothers to attack each other on some of these sites. I refuse to play into that. You should too.

Social Media Addiction

Actions You Can Take Today To Limit Your Activity

Remove Social Media Smartphone Apps to limit your usage at work

Log out of smart phone apps regularly to make ease of access more difficult

Set yourself a daily Data limit so your phone disconnects you at the maximum amount.

Plan other things to do in advance and set reminders that will interrupt you on social media

Tell your friends the truth. You have a social media problem and you need support

Tell your family you would like to see them every second weekend

Register for outside events on Facebook so you’re reminded to leave the house

Subscribe to local pages that remind you that your local area has things to offer

Hide other people in your news feed that are constantly posting – Don’t play “Do as I do” with them

Consider a social media addiction Rehab Plan

Plan a holiday to somewhere with no network access to break the cycle of social media addiction

If you’re confident cold turkey will help have your internet cut of

Being addicted to social media does NOT define the person you are.

It is time to kick the habit.

Meet Kate:

My name is Kate. When I’m not writing I am busy raising my children and tackling the curve balls of life. My writing is influenced by my life. I’m sincerious but I don’t shy away from telling it how it is. I love Superheroes, Villians & Chocolate.